LETHBRIDGE, AB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is applauding Premier Danielle Smith for committing to restoring government expense transparency in Alberta by reversing the change to stop posting itemized expense receipts for government officials.

“Smith is doing the right thing by taking this bull by the horns as soon as she got back from Mexico and committing to correcting this weird situation,” said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director. “Alberta taxpayers need to know if government officials are renting Corollas or Corvettes on their dime.”

On Aug. 1, a policy that had been in place since 2012 was quietly altered, removing the requirement for government officials to proactively disclose their taxpayer-funded expenses by publicly posting itemized receipts.

Smith’s trade trip to Mexico wrapped up Wednesday. On Thursday evening the premier was asked about the sudden policy change to hide government expense receipts behind a freedom-of-information paywall.

“I’m confused by that too. We are going to be discussing that memo when we go to cabinet on Tuesday… there are a number of my ministers who go to the same hotels when they are frequenting different municipalities, and they just wanted the name of the hotel redacted just in case people were tracking them down,” Smith said.

“That was what the policy was supposed to be - it turned out to be something quite different, so, we are going to try to track down how that happened and do a reversal on that.”

The longstanding transparency rule meant anyone could see the itemized receipts without paying a freedom-of-information fee and possibly waiting months for the documents.

The Aug. 1 change got rid of that transparency and removed years of previous expense records.

“Alberta has some of the strongest transparency rules and grassroots taxpayer protection laws in North America, and we must aways be vigilant to keep it that way,” Sims said. “We are pleased to see the premier taking swift action to correct this and to make sure taxpayers can see how their money is being spent.

“Taxpayers will be watching the cabinet meeting closely.”